Improved railway-car brake



J. W. SWALES.

Gar-Brake.

Paggmed Sept. 7, 1869.

MPETERS, PHOTOI-LITHOGRAFHER, WASHINGTON. I:v c:v

filhdtrd $121M admit (Militia;

Letters Patent Nb. 94,525, dated September 7, 1869.

IMPROVED RAILWAY-CAR BRAKE.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of thesame.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, J on W. SwALus, of thecity and county of San Francisco, State of (l -alilbrnia, have inventedan Improved Oar-Brake; and I do hereby declare the following descriptionand accompanying drawings-are sufficient to enable any person skilled inthe art or science to which it most nearly appertains, to make and usemy said invention or improvement, without further invention orexperiment.

My invention relates to an improved self-acting carbrake, for thepurpose of checking the velocity and finally stopping a train of carswhen in motion. It is estimated that more than half the total number offatal accidents which occur upon railroads arise from collision, owingprincipally to the present form of brake, on account of time necessarilyconsumed in signalling and putting on the brakes. In this invention, Ipropose to place the brakes of the entire train directly under thesupervision of the engineer, so that in case of accident, by merelytaking a step he can put on the brakes throughout the entire length ofthe train, and thus be enabled to come to a stop in a very shortdistance. This I propose to do by means of one continuous chainextending theentire length of the train, beneath the cars, so arrangedas to be disconnected at thesamc time the cars are uncoupled. The chainisconnectcd with a mechanism placed in the bottom of the tender-car, andproperly concealed. This mechanism is connected with the axle of eitherthe front or rear wheels of the tender, by means of'a chain passingaround a chain-pulley on the axle, and a similar chain-pulley arrangedin a sliding frame above. \Vhen the train is in motion the chain hangsloosely around the lower pulley, but when it is desired to check thespeed of the train the sliding frame is moved forward by means of alever, placed at the front end of the tender, which, at the sameinstant, tightens the chain upon the pulleys, and throws a pinion,attached to the shaft upon which the upper pulley revolves, into gearwith a toothed wheel, which carries a shaft around which the chain iswound, which operates the brakes upon the entire train.

In order to give a better explanation and illustration'of theconstruction and operation of myinvention, reference is bad to theaccompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, of which-Figure 1 is a plan.

Figure 2 is a side sectional view.

Similar letters of reference in each of the figures indicate like parts.

A is the tender of an engine, which is placed directly in the rear ofthelocomot-ive, and carries the necessary fueland water for producingsteam,

Longitudinally through the centre of this tender, I place an extratimber, B, intended to strengthen the car, and give a support to theaxles when the strain is upon them. In the bottom of this tender, nearthe rear end, I place the mechanism which operates the bi akes of thetrain, in such a manner that it will occupy but a small space, and beconcealed from view by a flooring, and the wood 01' fuel placed upon it.

The mechanism consists of a framework placed across the tender,consisting of the timbers O G, and cross-timbers (l' G.

Between two of the cross-timbers O G is a small frame, D, which moves inways in the sides of the timbers, and carries the chain-pulley a.

This pulley is placed upon a shaft, 1), which has at its end the pinion1!.

Upon the car-axle, beneath the frame, is a ragwheel, e, much smallerthan the one, a, in the frame above, and a chain, f, passes around thetwo pulleys.

The frame D is held to its proper position directly over the axle, by astrong spring, g, when the car is in motion, in which position the chainf hangs-loosely around the rag-pulley c, which, being much smaller thanthe above, allows it to hang without interfering with the movement ofthe axle-in any manner.

A rod, h, is attached to the name D, and passes out through an openingin the side of the car, where i it is attached to a lever, E, placednear the front of the car, and within easy reach of the engineer. Bydrawing this lever forward, and confining it in a rack on the side ofthe tender, the frame 1) is moved forward,'thus, at the same instant,tightening the chain around the two pulleys, and throwing the pinion dinto gear with the gear-wheel h.

The gear-wheel Eis placed upon the shaft 1', which 'bears in thecross-timber G U, :arrying between these timbers a drum, G, and at itsopposite end the ratchetwheel k.-

A pawl, 11, is placed so as to engage with the teeth of the ratchet k,and is held in place by a spring, 0, and operated by a lever, H, placedon the opposite side of the car from the lever .l

The chainw is attached to the drum G, around which it is wound when thepinion d is in gear with check its speed, or stop it entirely,"thcengineer or his assistant can, by taking a single step, throw the leverE into the rack on the side of the car. This carries the pinion'dibrwardso as to engage with the wheel F, which thus puts on the brakesthroughout the entire train, giving a gradually-increasing strain untilthe desired power is applied, when the lever E is. thrown off,-thusdisconnecting the gearing which operatcs the brakes. The dog it catchesin .the teeth of the ratchet and prevents the drum from unwinding,holding the brakes to their place until the train is stopped. When thetrain is again ready to be put in motion, the lever H is thrown forwardinto the rack on the side of the car. This raises the dog a, andreleases the drum, which is immediately unwound by the strain upon it,leaving everything free and ready to move fiirward, V

' But little. space is occupied with the mechanism, and the carryingcapacity of the tenderis not seriously interfered with. g

. In case ofdauger, the engineer can, without signalling to have thebrakes put down, throw thelevcr in the rack without for a minute leavinghis position, and when the amount of chain desired to give the necessaryfriction for stopping the-train has been wound upon the drum, the samemovement will disconnect this mechanism, and leave the brakes bearingagainst the wheels.

The mechanism by which this is effected is concealed from view, andinvolves no extra expense to any of the cars except the tender. Thewhole is so arranged that there is no liability of its getting out oforder, and there is but little danger .of breaking or fracturing any ofthe parts, unless the winding-movement is allowed to continue. too long,which can, also be avoided by arranging to have the lever thrown backwhena certain length of chain" has been wound around the drum.-- It maybe found desirable to sub-' stitu'tefriction-wheels in place of thepinion and'gearwheel ibrconnnunicating motion from the axle to the theengineer himself often fails to give a distinct or proper signal,-whichresults in frequent serious and fatal accidents.

The additional cost of this mechanism to) the tram willbe but slight inall the cars except the tender, as

the old= form of brake need not be disturbed, the additionof thecontinuous chain being all that is requisite.

Having thus described my invention,

What I claim as new, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is-.-

1. The sliding frame I), operated by the lever E, and spring g, andcarrying the pulley a, and pinion d upon the shaft 1), substantially asand for the purpose above described.

2. In combination with the sliding frame I), carrying the pulley (1- andpinion d, the arrangement of the.

endless chain upon the pulleys a and 6, whereby said chain is tightenedat the same time that the pinion (1 is thrown into gear, substantiallyas described.

In witness whereof, I have herenntoset my hand and seal.

JOHN W. SWALES. [It s.] \Vituesses .l. L. Boom, \VI'LLIAM S'nux FORTH.

